Vanderburgh County is included in the group of counties with the highest rates of hepatitis C cases. Those counties could choose to conduct needle exchanges right away if the bill is signed into law.
Warrick County is grouped among counties with the second highest rates of hepatitis C cases. In those counties, local government officials could approve needle-exchange programs following a public hearing.
Vanderburgh County Health Officer Dr. Kenneth Spear said needle exchanges can’t be run as stand-alone programs and counties would need to tie in other services. Spear said he would need to speak with the county’s communicable disease officials before deciding whether to implement a program in Vanderburgh. The bill also would allow Evansville city officials to conduct a program within city limits or for local government officials to pair with a not-for-profit to run a program.
“It is not a panacea and it does not solve the problem, but in times of significant outbreaks, it does help stem the tide and it allows us to contact these people,” Spear said.
Allowing needle exchanges would help “immensely,” said Amy Miller, a supportive care counselor with AIDS Resource Group of Evansville. The organization currently supplies safer injection kits, which contain antibiotic ointments and bandages. The group believes allowing the ability to dispense clean needles would help drop the hepatitis C and HIV rates in the area.
In Vanderburgh, the three-year rate for newly-reported cases of hepatitis C is 116 per 100,000 people, according to figures provided to lawmakers by the IU Center. That’s compared to the rate of 260 cases per 100,000 people in Scott County.
“It would change the way that we are able to help people protect themselves exponentially,” Miller said.
Miller said one of the greatest benefits of the program is gaining access to people who need resources, so they can receive information on how to be safer and protect themselves.
“Otherwise, we’re not talking to these people,” Miller said. “They have no contact with anyone that could give them information and resources.”
Pence announced his executive order for Scott County in March amid a surge of new HIV cases since December.
On the legislation, the governor’s office released a statement Friday that Pence “has been clear that he is opposed to broad-based needle exchanges, but recognizes the need to put all measures on the table in the case of a public health emergency such as the one we are seeing and responding to in Scott County.”
The bill cleared the House last week after the ability for some counties to run the programs was added. The Senate’s original author will now need to agree to the House changes or send the bill to a conference committee, where lawmakers from both chambers will decide if they’ll send the bill to Pence for his consideration.
“I just want to make sure that we put in place policy that will allow other local communities to prevent themselves from becoming the next Scott County,” said bill’s House sponsor, state Rep. Ed Clere (R-New Albany).
State Rep. Ron Bacon, a Chandler Republican, who supported the bill in the House, said he feels the state is in a reactive mode.
“We need to do something,” Bacon said, “but I’m still not sure the governor is going to go along with this, so we’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.”